


Run Girl Run

by Slytherclaw2005



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Also Gregory sucks, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bisexual Carl Grimes, Enid Rhee - Freeform, F/F, Female Carl Grimes, Fuck Jared, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Enid, No Smut, One-Eyed Carl Grimes, Sad Carl Grimes, Savior Carl Grimes, Savior Member Carl Grimes, Sexual Assault, Spencer monroe is a douche, a lot of sarcasm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29968119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherclaw2005/pseuds/Slytherclaw2005
Summary: When the prison fell, Charlotte Grimes fucking ran. And ran, she didn't stop running until here was a bullet in her head and she woke up in Sanctuary, quickly taking to being a Savior (while selling her soul in the process) and now, after a year, she is sent to Alexandria, where she is shocked to find her family that she thought was long gone. Now, a war between the Saviors and Survivors is brewing, and Charlotte is caught in the middle.
Relationships: Carl Grimes & Negan, Carl Grimes & Rick Grimes, Enid/Carl Grimes, Rick Grimes/Michonne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Run Girl Run

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xXQueenofDragonsXx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXQueenofDragonsXx/gifts).



> Note: While Charlotte Grimes does in fact take on a male persona for a bit, she does identify as a girl- the reason she acts as a male are done for situational purposes and the story does explain why that is- but (unlike two of my other fanfics) Charlotte is not trans in this story and I hope nobody takes offense to anything (although if you do, please message me, I am not trying to take away from the problems and issues transgender people face so if you do PLEASE tell me.)

When the prison fell Charlotte Grimes fucking ran.

Okay, that’s a lie. She didn’t just abandon ship the moment things went south, she couldn’t. Not with her dad, with Judith, with Maggie and Beth and Glenn and Michonne and Daryl and everyone else fighting for their lives. Hell, the first thing Charlotte ended up doing was look for her family (which had, at that point, expanded beyond simply her dad and Judith) and while she caught sight of a few of them in the corners of her eyes, the amount of walkers and The-Governor’s-Bitch-Ass-Psychos prevented her from getting to them in time.

Then they just kept coming.

And coming.

And coming.

Charlotte wonders some nights if the growing herd was a result of people dying at the prison, of Michonne or Maggie or Daryl or Beth (or Dad or Judith) getting killed and left to walk around to eat the ones they once loved. 

She wonders quite often if she is the only one left.

But then yeah, once everything officially went to hell she ran. She had to. 

Fight or die, and Charlotte Grimes was never one for dying.

So she ran, and ran, and for weeks (maybe months?) she lived on the little she could, hunting and gathering in the forest like Daryl had taught her at one point when she forced him to take her out (because she couldn’t have stood farming with her dad for one more goddamn minute) while keeping herself safe with the knife she had kept on her at all times since she received it (gun having run out of bullets days after she left- although she couldn’t part with the gun itself, it being the only thing she had left that her dad had given her, since her hat had gotten lost in the turmoil.)

Eventually, it became almost a system. Forage, listen, walk, forage, listen, walk. It just became her life. A monotonous life. But a life nonetheless (although Charlotte had sometimes wondered if she was any different than the numerous walkers she’d killed.)

For a while the system was all she had, until she met a group wandering in the same forest she herself was in, saving her when she was cornered with five walkers all around her- getting close (too close) before a man (who she later found to be Marco) shot it, and two other women in his group (Anne and Maddy) took out the others with shovels. 

There were four people in Marco’s group at the beginning, and they were more than willingly to take on a small, fourteen (maybe fifteen? How long has it been) girl who was alone, and Charlotte was simply happy to no longer be alone. She had been standoffish at first, yes (which everyone in the group accepted without question because of the hell the world was in), but as the days past she grew closer to them, because Maddy and Anne reminded her so much of Glenn and Maggie, and Marco was a combination of her dad and Michonne (quiet but so obviously a leader that just exuded confidence and protected the group), the older man- Armado- was so much like Hershel she had nightmares while staying with them that his head was going to go the same Hershel’s had. And they weren’t her group, no, nobody could ever replace dad and Michonne and Glenn and Daryl and-

But they were enough.

Until they weren’t.

The group had been on their way to Washington DC, with Marco and his dad (Armado) having come from Florida and had met others along the way- because they believed that there was hopefully a chance that there was structure or a government there.

Charlotte thought it was bullshit.

But, it was a chance, and the best one she had.  And she couldn’t be alone again.

Anyways, they had been on their way to DC, until (of course) hell broke loose.

They lost Max (one of two brothers that the group had picked up in North Carolina recently) to a horde of walkers that had been passing by, and his brother Adam (who was unstable at best and psychotic at worst) lost his shit that night.

Charlotte can still remember the smell of blood as Adam hacked away at Anne’s corpse- decimating it beyond despair- as Maddy cried for her love while bleeding out on the ground.

Marco’s head sitting not far away.

Charlotte and Armado ran, since Armado had been on the other side of camp keeping watch and Charlotte now had a habit of sleeping at the edge of camp in case she needs a quick escape (which was likely what saved her life.)

They ran.

And only made it so far before shots rang out.

Because fucking Adam had taken Marco’s gun that he kept on hand in case of an emergency.

Armado collapsed, shot having hit his back and gone straight through, and Charlotte had turned for a moment thinking she could help him-

And then another shot had rung out.

And. Her. Face. Was. On. Fire.

It was white hot pain, going through the right side of her face- making her lightheaded for a second long enough to see Adam making his way through the foliage towards her and Armado (holy shit she had thought was going to die) before she passed out.

And woke up on a bed. In a factory. In a place called Sanctuary. With a man named Negan as the boss ( _ dictator _ ) that quickly took a liking to her “badassery” and “women-sized balls.”

The place looked like a nightmare, walkers lined up outside chained to fences and poles- growling and snapping as some men in weird disgusting white clothing chained new ones up, workers and families seeming constantly in fear on the lower levels, Negan running around sometimes with Lucille (his goddamn baseball bat because this man was that crazy) bloody as all hell (and she could never know if it was from people or walkers.)

She stayed.

Because, even in a nightmarish hell like this, Charlotte Grimes could not spend another moment alone in her thoughts- in her head where she watched Hershel die, where she shot her own mother, where she saw Anne and Maddy dying and Marco’s head, where she dreamed (at least she hoped it was a dream and not a repressed memory) of her dad and Judith and Glenn and Maggie and Beth and Michonne getting blown up or stabbed or shot at the prison on repeat.

And honestly, Charlotte had just lost her eye at the time, couldn’t shoot for shit and was hyped up on pain meds, so she likely wouldn’t have made it past the gate before getting eaten by a walker.

A year went by with her in Sanctuary, quickly moving up the ranks and becoming a sort of “protege” of Negan’s- who was beyond impressed at her speed to recover her shooting ability ( and kill Steven- an asshole of a man who apparently though he could get away with touching a “weak”, “defenseless” teenage girl- news flash he didn’t. )

A year went by with her having access to food and medicine and a bed- stuff that she had struggled to find after the prison fell even when she  _ was _ with Marco’s group.

A year of her going by the name “Charlie” rather than “Charlotte”, because Negan had used it at first and then it just never stopped getting used (and Charlotte Grimes was long dead by then anyways.)

A year went by with her racking up a kill count higher than anyone would have hoped (except maybe Negan- who looked so fucking proud of himself whenever his “protege” went through with an execution.)

A year went by with her slowly losing herself more and more, because even though she was no longer alone like she feared- she was surrounded by people who had done horrible things, who were monsters, and maybe she was now too (or maybe she had always been.)

A year went by without much incident (although Charlie still debated if it was simply because she had withdrawn from the person she was and was now a shell that simply did everything Negan said.)

Until Simon’s Satellite Outpost was fucking attacked. Over fifty of people gone, slaughtered in the middle of the night by a new group of people (because it certainly wasn’t Hilltop- those cowards- run by the biggest, perverted, cowardly douchebag she ever met.) 

And Negan was fucking pissed.

Because everyone knew that there was no way he could let this stand, be undermined like this by someone else- be seen as weak by someone else.

Simon wanted to kill the community when they found them.

Negan said differently.

“Why the hell would we do that?”

“They killed our people! My people! You really think we can just let them walk!”

“Simon, Simon, Simon.” Negan whispered, getting closer and closer whilst pointing Lucille close (too close) to Simon’s face- he wouldn’t do it, Charlie knew that, there was no way he would, Negan wouldn’t lose his right hand man (and occasional fuckbuddy) to a simple argument (no matter how hot headed they both were.)

“What have I said before about people?”

People were a resource. A resource. That was one of Negan’s favorite mottos in Sanctuary, because why kill people when they can serve you? Provide for you? Why waste energy planting seeds in the ground when you can have someone else who you’ve scared the shit out of do it for you?

“They just slaughtered fifty of our people.”

“At night, when they were sleeping. They’re cowards.”

“Think it might be that one community?” Regina asked.

Ah yes. That community. The Saviors had been hearing whispers about them for a while. Alexis? Alexander? Something like that. A community completely walled off (people likely weak, so weak, like those in Hilltop) that could have possibly been responsible for killing (read: demolish) a bunch of Negan’s men on the road, where that one man Dwight (the man who had run off with his wife and her sister before running into some dude with a crossbow- the sister dying and he and his wife returning- getting the iron (which Charlie had watched happen with some burning sympathy) and was now one of Negan’s top guys) ran into. 

“Could be. Either way we’ve been needing to talk to that community for a while now, no time like the present.” Negan said, a growing grin on his face as he likely laid out sadistic plans in his mind as how to traumatize those people in that community the most.

“Want to get a few trucks going boss? We can make a convoy and ride out north, we should be able to find them.” Simon asked, clearly upset he couldn’t just kill all of them, but pleased at the prospect of making them suffer.

“Dwight? Thoughts.”

“We don’t know what they’re capable of, they could have done this or not. Better to get info first.” The Freddy-Kueger look-alike (and Simon’s occasional fuckbuddy) responded.

“After what they did?! I'm not going to wait around for these people to strike again! Why not-”

“Simon, Simon, Simon.” Negan responded with a smirk, “Why do that when we have Charlie here?”

Ah yes.

That’s why she was at this meeting wasn’t she?

Because who better to infiltrate a community than a partially disabled, seemingly “weak” teenager? Who better to gather dirt than someone that society naturally underestimated in the first place?

#

#

#

This isn’t Charlie’s first rodeo, oh hell no. There had been times in the past where Negan sent her to communities before everyone else in order to gather dirt on the group or check to see how much firepower they had before Negan busts through the gates and slaughters one of the civilians.

This wasn’t the first time she used Carl.

Carl, oh yes “Carl”, a persona she had come up with months before on her first infiltration into a community called Hallowbrant, which had lasted weeks, because while Charlie was able to use her “disability” and age to her advantage, she found it easier to go under the radar as a “boy” (because somehow, society still was sexist enough that they were more open to a boy with scars than a girl) and she knows that while there are people who take advantage of boys- there was certainly the common held belief that girls were more subjective to possible assault (as shown with Steven in the past) and Charlie wanted to limit that chance as much as possible.

So Carl had been born. It honestly hadn’t been incredibly difficult to do so (maybe because puberty seemed to have been put on a halt due to malnourishment- and her small stature (being fucking 5’3 despite her parents certainly having been much taller than that) and voice could be attributed to both her age and the condition the world was in), a group had gone on a run prior to Hallowbrant and got her a binder, which certainly helped sell it since over the years she had acquired (albeit small) breasts that those looking for would certainly notice. Her hair, which only went to her shoulders and was kept in a ponytail most of the time, was let down, although she kept the length to both hide more of her face and “feminine” features (and it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen guys with long hair- last time she saw Daryl his hair was certainly getting long and he was one of the most macho men she knew.)

So, the day before she was to start this particular “project” (although to use the word project felt so wrong because what she was doing was going to lead to the death of one (or more- who knows with Negan) people, but Charlotte was too far gone to care) she got dressed and met up with Negan near his truck.

“You ready for this one Char?”

“Not like I haven’t done this before right?”

Negan just smirked, handing her a walkie talkie before he called Dwight over to take her to take her to the stop.

The stop, because yes, the Saviors had no idea where this Alexa place was other than it was north, and if Charlie really wanted to sell the ruse of “Carl”, she needed to make sure she didn’t look like she was being well cared for- hence Dwight dropping her off in a forest up north where she would stay and wander around for a few days before hopefully finding Alexavier and being welcomed in as a “poor, disabled, young orphan.”

So, after Dwight took off Charlie spent the next few days in near solitude. Killing a few walkers here and there to get blood and grime on her clothes before running into a few trees to add some bruises and injuries to further sell the idea that “Carl” has been out there for months alone, and then she started heading towards the main road- which Negan had certainly believed to have been watched when you got closer to the community so there was no way she could have had someone drive her there- which certainly was a pain in the ass if she was given wrong information and went the wrong way.

If Simon fucked up on this she was going to ki-

Well, guess she wasn’t going to kill him (this time) because before long she saw large rusted walls in the distance and she started picking up the pace as she got nearer to what was hopefully the right community (if not there was still a chance these bastards are the ones who got the Satellite Post or could offer tribute.)

There were people on top of the walls that she could see as she got closer and another gate behind the main rusted one moved to reveal two guys and-

Well, she passed out.

Maybe not eating for a few days wasn’t the best idea in hindsight.

She woke up in a bed (again, Jesus Christ, was she always going to wake up in a bed when she passed out) in a room that stunk of a combination of disinfectant and flowers, and as she opened her eyes she saw guy with a dark mullet and a larger blonde girl wearing glasses in the room.

“Oh! You’re awake!” The blonde said (loudly, which certainly wasn’t helping Charlie’s headache.)

“Uh- yeah. Wha-”

“You were conked out near the gate into a state of unconsciousness, which Ms. Denise and I hypothesize may be due possibly due to lack of sustenance prior to your advent to this here community-”

“We think you fainted because of lack of nutrition, you aren’t running a fever so we don’t think you were bit, unless…” Glasses (Denise?) said, cutting Mullet-Man off.

“Not bit, I just haven’t found much to eat lately.” She responded, trying to start getting a narrative set for when she was eventually questioned.

“We’ll have food brought to you, do you have anyone else? People to get back to?”

“N-no, it’s just me.”

“Our mighty leader will arrive in a twinkling to catechize you with some simple Q and A to further comprehend your situation, there is an almighty possibility that you can take up residence and be accommodated if that is what you desire-”

What the hell was Mullet-Man say-

Oh.

Holy shit.

Was it seriously going to be this easy?

“Is the kid ready to talk?”

Was that-

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

_ Daryl? _

Yes, that was Daryl, standing near the doorway, hair (which was even longer now) covering part of his trademark broody face.

Daryl was here, and if Daryl was here that meant-

Her dad. Judith. Michonne. Glenn. Maggie. Beth.

Were they all alive?

Here?

Had her family made it all the way here? Within her grasp now?

“Kid, you good?”

That was Daryl. Daryl Dixon. Who was here. And alive and didn’t know who she was and holy shit this was the community Negan was after and he would kill them all if she didn’t-

“Yeah, I’m good.” She choked out. “What’s going on?”

Daryl looked at her for a second, was he sizing her up or did he know or was he just-

“Just going to ask you some questions, that’s all.”

“Oh. Okay.” Holy shit. “Are you in charge?”

Because the Daryl Charlie knew would not take up a leadership position, no way. Daryl had been aloof and distant when she last saw him, more open to the group who he had been with near the beginning but nowhere near welcoming enough towards everyone else, but if her dad and everyone was gone maybe that had chang-

“Me?” Daryl just seemed to suddenly be amused at the thought, “Hell nah, ain’t got the skill to run a place like this, our guy Rick is- he’s out right now though.”

Rick.

Her dad.

Her dad who protected her and watched her grow up and held her so many nights when she had nightmares about her mother’s death.

Her dad, who always told her what a good girl she was.

_ Yeah right. _

“Okay.” She whispered, both in shock (trying to process the irony that was her life) and still playing the role of a scared teenager.

“Ya got a name?”

She paused.

She could tell the truth, see her dad, Judith, get to be a family again.

But the Charlotte Grimes they knew was long gone- gone since she helped the massacre that was Hallowbrant. Gone since she executed a teenager not much older than her in front of a crowd and his screaming mother.

And she knew, knew if she failed what Negan sent out for her to do- everyone here was as good as dead, because yes, people were a resource, but only to some extent (and if the cost got too great, Negan would eventually listen to Simon and everyone here would be gone.)

So Charlie made a choice, sacrificing her own choice at a family for the hope that maybe not everyone here would die. That the community wouldn’t go up in flames like the last one. That her sister, who was hopefully still alive, would have a chance to live a better life than her.

“Carl.”

#

#

#

It was shockingly easy to fit in to this community, with Blondie (Denise) supplying her with clothes and giving her room to change, before offering her a room in a house that she had (since apparently Denise only shared it with her girlfriend Tara she learned in her rambling, who was out on a run for a while) so Denise could keep an eye on her health.

Honestly though, were people really so trusting they would put her in the same house as their only (as it so far seemed) doctor.

Apparently.

Really, if Charlie didn’t have her family’s best interests in the forefront of her every thought, she would be mocking them to Negan and the rest of the Boss Ass Saviors™ (as Negan called them- referring to those with high up positions or outposts or were just overall badasses he had) who were awaiting her on the other side of her walkie.

But that left the question, what was she going to do?

Because yes, Charlie knew that revealing herself and going against Negan would likely lead to her family’s death, if in retaliation or simply anger she wouldn’t know, but would playing this as Negan wants it truly be the best way to go?

Because if she did it as Negan planned it out, someone was going to die.

But if she didn’t, there was a chance everyone would.

And hell, Charlie wasn’t willing to test those odds.

During the nights, despite the fact that this could lead to the death of her dad or Maggie or Glenn or Daryl or Michonne (not Beth it seemed, since she had yet to see her and she hadn’t heard of her yet on camp, unlike her dad who was still out on a run,) it was better to lose one person than to lose everyone (even if Charlie was going to lose them all anyways when she abandoned them again ( _ or if they found out what a monster she had become _ .))

So she told Negan everything she could give, the amount of weapons, people, fighters, food. She gave him what he needed (but not any more than that, hell no.) 

And then her dad came back.

He had changed, that much was clear, changed from the tender, loving father figure she once knew into someone colder, who had a clear bloodlust boiling underneath his skin.

But he was still her dad.

Charlie kept her head down when he arrived, fearing (and praying) that he would recognize her and the choice would finally be out of her hands.

He didn’t.

How could he? She was hardly the daughter he once knew, having grown a few inches in the past few years (even though she was still unimpressively short) and finally started filling out into her body (although the baggy clothes and binder she wore as “Carl” covered that for the most part.)

Her dad, who probably thought she was dead, would have been looking for his precious (albeit bitchy she would admit) daughter, not some boy covered in scars who kept mainly to himself for the most part.

And she had a gaping hole in her head.

It was disgusting to say the least, and yes, even though Denise had given her bandages after her arrival- since Negan never allowed her to cover up her “badass” wound (despite her clear pleas and discomfort,) Charlie still flinched every time she looked at a mirror, at her clear weakness and her monstrous face and the memories it brought back of Armado falling and Adam and Marco’s head and the screams of Maddy and Anne and-

At least her outside finally matched her monstrous inside.

But still, her own dad didn’t recognize her, and that hurt more than anything.

It sent a stab through her to see her dad playing with Judith (her sister, alive sister, a daughter her dad had that wasn’t broken or monstrous or horrifying) or kissing Michonne (who, holy shit, finally got together with her dad) and knowing that she could never be a part of this family.  That her dad had finally replaced her and her mom with another daughter and woman.

Still, things stayed calm for a while and Charlie slowly sank her teeth into the community, reporting back to Negan in whispers at night after checking to make sure everyone was gone, talking to others in the community like the Mullet-Man (Eugene) and Red McBigArms (Abraham) and WeirdLookingDoucheFace (Spencer)-who made her glad that she was passing as boy based on the looks he kept giving other women- and Hot Army Chick (Rosita) and Creepy Priest Man (Gabriel.)

And she may have been spending quite a it of time with a certain Angry Lesbian with Resting Bitch Face (Enid), who made Charlie feel too many things that went far beyond her little crush on Beth years ago, and who she read comics with when she was done being an assistant to Denise in the med wing (and who she may have been using as an excuse to avoid dad and Michonne and Daryl and Maggie and Glenn, because it hurt too much to see them and know what she was doing to them.)

So yeah, she may have spent a lot of time with Enid, but Charlie knew it wouldn’t become anything more than that- because Enid made it clear when she first talked to “Carl” that she was only into girls and if she was looking for a relationship this was not going to work (because apparently there had been a guy before named Ron?) and it wasn’t like Charlie was ever going to reveal to her the fact that “Carl” was in fact a  _ she,  _ a she that was a traitor and was hurting her own family even though she was doing the best she could and was selling everything she knew to Alexandria’s enemy.

So, Charlie stayed on the down-low, waiting for the Saviors to make their move.

Turns out she didn’t have to wait long.

Not after Daryl and Hot Army Chick and Denise left and came back with only Daryl and Hot Army Chick (and she learned that Dwight was the one that pulled the trigger on that one- holy shit Dwight, seriously man? Because Dwight and Charlie had had a turbulent relationship when he got back, with him having betrayed Negan and ran off, but Dwight had a sense of humor and compassion she couldn’t get with others in the Boss Ass Saviors™, and knew what it was like to look in the mirror and not like what looked back (both figuratively and literally) but damn, Dwight had just killed Denise- who Daryl seemed to have a soft spot with, so he was probably going to have a Terrible Time™ in the near future if Daryl had anything to say about it.)

And then, Daryl ran off again (followed by Hot Army Chick, Glenn- who was apparently now going to be a dad soon if the rumors she heard meant anything, and Michonne.)

And her dad was looking for Carol, with Stick-Wielding Sensei (Morgan), because she apparently couldn’t take everything she had done anymore (and God, didn’t Charlie know the feeling) and had run off.

And then a bit later, Enid came running out of Maggie’s place looking for help, saying that Maggie (who was only a few months pregnant at the time and looked nowhere near due) was in pain and something might be wrong with the baby (and all Charlie could think was that this might go the same way her own mom did.)

And then her dad, who had returned, arranged for him and some others (primarily from Rick’s old group- along with some others he had picked up along the way) and take her to get help.

Take her to Hilltop.

Because, holy shit, Alexandria was in league with Hilltop.

And Negan was going to be pissed.

How could he not be? This proved that Alexandria was likely the ones to put down everyone at the Satellite Outpost (something Charlie had never been able to ask about because it would raise far too much suspicion.) And beyond that, it showed that Hilltop (one of the communities Saviors had thought to be pretty complacent, was rebelling.)

And this in itself caused Charlie to pause, because if the Saviors found out that Alexandria knew about and was working with Hilltop, there would certainly be punishment.

But, if the Saviors found out on their own later on, it would be even worse.

So, Charlie did something that she would likely hate herself for for the rest of her life.

She called Negan.

“LoLa 98, Boss, a group of them are moving out soon,” She whispered into the walkie-talkie (which, unlike her dad's groups, actually worked well over long distances.)

“Okay kid, and?”

“This might be the time to strike them”

“You wanna hit the community now?”

“No,” No, no way in hell. Not with Judith being there unprotected- and all these weak people (since it seemed like outside of her dad’s group, the majority of Alexandrians were still cowards (and volatile if Spencer MonDouche had anything to say about it)) would certainly react unpredictably, possibly spelling more trouble for everyone there.

“The group leaving, the leader is going with, along with most of the soldiers and most of the,” Fuck, Charlie was really going to hate herself later, “people he seems close with, his friends,” she choked out, “girlfriend.”

“You think we should do what we did with the Kingdom? Hit the strong ones while they’re out and leave them to deal with it, no need to get a whole community involved.”

Shit- “Yes.” She whispered.

The radio went silent for a minute, Negan possibly conferring with the rest of his people before it went back on, “You know where they’re going?”

And, she realized that she didn’t need to sell out Hilltop, their partnership, that Negan would be able to corner them regardless as long as he knew of the direction they were going in, but he could and would connect the dots- especially when he notices the influx of food they had when there was clearly no way Alexandria would produce that much (because Charlie had deduced pretty quickly once she found out about Hilltop that the farmer community were the ones who gave all this to them (likely in exchange for their services)), that, or someone would (and someone always did) crack, especially considering Gregory (who was the biggest coward Charlie had ever had the misfortune of meeting) would sell Alexandria out for a corn chip of praise. And, the later he found out, the worse the lashback would be.

“Hilltop,” She responded, “I think Gregory commissioned them to take out the Satellite Outpost, they’re going there looking for medical help.”

“Ho-ly sh-it,” was the response, she heard cackling coming from the radio before a large smash came over it.

“You heard that guys?! Simon’s pet weasel hired a bunch of guns to take out our men in their goddamn sleep!”

“I think you can still take Alexandria though, they likely didn’t know who we were at the time.” Because Negan might attack Hilltop in response (collateral damage the dark part of her mind thought) but there was no way in hell he was touching her sister, her dad, her family.

“Damn right we will.” Was the response she got. “We’ll see you there Charlie.”

And then he hung up.

#

#

#

Charlie always knew someone in her old group (her family) was going to die today, die because Negan always killed one to make an example (but would kill more if necessary, and Charlie had tried her hardest to not make it so,) and that her betrayal would be exposed to the group.

But she didn’t expect it to be like this.

Before she left, which honestly took little convincing since they needed all the guns they could get after what happened to Denise, she may have locked Enid in a closet (which definitely was something that the girl would try to kill her for if it wasn’t for the fact that this was likely the last time she would be welcomed into the community as a citizen, not as a despised Savior), but, there was no way she could have talked her dad out of going- but she could still protect some people (even if she was never going to be a part of Enid or Judith’s lives.)

The trip west in the RV went smoothly at first, before they started hitting the road block, the first with Simon and some of his men standing in front of the road (where her dad and Simon had a weirdly philosophical conversation while being 20 yards away from one another), and then hitting progressively worse ones until the group had no choice (as Negan had designed) to take it on foot (of which she knew Negan likely had already determined where they were going to be, so she had no part to play other than to run and make sure nobody went off course.)

Then they were cornered, forced onto their knees (Charlie simply playing along because she knew Negan was a bitch for dramatics and would want to be the one to reveal her role as a Savior to the group in the most theatrical way possible.)

And he did not disappoint.

It started off as most of the deemed Savior’s Examples for a Dumbass Community went, with everyone waiting on their knees before announcing Negan as some sort of king (which he basically was at this point) and him dramatically (because the bitch was a goddamn Drama Queen) entering before going into a speech that would rival her dad’s, some waving of Lucille here or there, saying multiple times that he was going to beat the fuck, fuckity fuck out of one of them, getting too close to her dad’s face multiple times, all while keeping up this cocky, bravado that made you want to worship and punch him at once.

And then he did some Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe (like that made a difference, Negan always picked his victim out long before that little game starts, only doing it to further the tension, add even more grief to the community members (because when it is all a game of luck you blame yourself (being all: “Me and her should have swapped places” or “If he had started with someone else-”) much more than if a maniac with a baseball bat chooses the victim.)

Still though, it was unnerving to have Lucille thrust in her face (even though she knew she was in no danger at the time.)

He beat Sasha (who, holy shit she had known since the prison) to death which certainly wasn’t the person she would have guessed to get Lucille, considering the fact that Daryl, Abraham, Rosita or her own dad would certainly seem like bigger threats to Negan. And hearing the cries of the usually jubilant redhead (her boyfriend?) was horrifying,

And then Daryl got up,  _ the idiot _ , and punched Negan right in the face.

As if Negan wasn’t pissed enough with everything that had happened.

And. Then. He. Killed. Abraham.

Hearing Hot Army Chick (who she had thought to have been romantically involved with the man prior)’s screams was certainly going to haunt Charlie for as long as she lived. Knowing Abraham for as little as she had, she knew that the soldier certainly didn’t deserve what he got, and knowing that it was her fault (because maybe she could have done this differently, maybe she could have protected her family without anyone needing to die, maybe-)

Once Negan was done, making one too many vampire-bat jokes for Charlie’s liking, he stood back up and finally went back into full-theater kid mode.

“Now, I think we need to give a round of applause to the girl who set this all up for us tonight!”

He wasn't holding back? Was he?

“My dear girl, Charlie! Why don’t you come up and take a bow!”

Everyone in the group, the ones who weren’t sobbing or glaring holes into Negan’s face, looked at him in slight confusion (and fear, likely wondering who else was going to die tonight.)

And Negan just stared right at her, as she rearranged her face (putting her mask on nonchalance in the face of violence back in place) and standing up, walking towards the bat-wielding maniac in the center of the semicircle they had going on there.

Negan just clapped her on the back, before putting his hand around her shoulder.

“See, Charlie here was the one who put in the call. Hell, the girl’s been watching you for weeks! Because, see Rick, I have eyes everywhere, ears everywhere. Charlie, a fucking teenage girl who I don’t know if you noticed but is missing a whole goddamn eye-” Wow, damn Negan, laying on there a little thick there? “Was the one who unraveled your whole little community, let that sink in. A small, teenage girl was the one who put you down. And you still think you’re the head honchos here?”

Rick, it hurt too much to call him her dad, was just glaring at Negan before shifting his focus to her, hell, she thought the man might have been trying to set her on fire. He wasn’t the only one, Daryl (who had been in pain and shock from Abraham’s death moments ago) looked like he wanted to go up and strangle her, and Hot Army Chick wasn't much better.

She had done it. She was officially back to being an orphan (maybe she had always been an orphan since the prison.) And she didn’t have much time to wallow before Negan handed a gun to her and moved on to his next stage of torture.

“Now Rick, Rick, I need you to understand that now. I can’t have you looking at me with the little glare on your face can I? I need you to respect the new world order.”

Rick wasn’t backing down. He wasn’t backing down, glaring holes into Negan’s face with his patent death look and hell, didn’t he know by now that that was only going to antagonize him?

“Dwight, help Rick up over here.”

Dwight moved around and pulled Rick to his feet, before pushing him forwards till he was closer to Negan and her in the center.

“Now, I want guns to their heads, level to their noses so if you shoot it will make a real mess!”

Saviors moved, the ones near the Alexandrians pulling their guns and pointing them at their heads.

“I want you to choose.”

Silence for a moment and then… “What?”

“See Rick you are the lucky winner, you get to choose which one of your people gets shot! Luc-ky you!”

Silence.

Jesus Christ.

“Choose. See Rick, we need an understanding here. You do as I say. And if you don’t, well someone is gonna lose their head.”

Her dad looked like he was going to be sick and sock Negan in the face at the same time.

“Now,” Negan continued, “Who is it going to be? The sick one? The shot one? Which one was his girlfriend again Char?”

He was toying with Rick, breaking him, Charlie knew this, as she used her gun to point at Michonne for a moment, and the man behind her seemed to push the gun even closer to her head.

Rick was starting to heave now, she could hear him in the background, starting to sob.

“Rick! Tick-Tock! Am I going to have to count?”

Just sobs were the answer.

“One-”

“Pick me! Pick me!” Was the screaming response. That wouldn’t work, Charlie knew that. Knew that having been around Negan long enough that the man needed full complacency, not rebellion, not disobeying his orders or trying to negotiate- you follow an order and go through with it, that’s how Charlie had survived as long as she had.

“Not an option Ricky! Two-”

“No! No please!”

“Pick Rick! Three-”

Rick, she pleaded mentally, just give an answer before-

A shot rang out, Mullet-Man fell to the ground, a bullet lodged in his brain (which, Charlie’s sadistic brain thought, was ironic for the genius.)

“Let’s go again! This time we should take down one of the ladies, even this out a bit.”

“No! No!” Rick was full out bawling by now, but it wasn’t going to stop, it wouldn’t stop until there was no resistance. (Why the hell had she done this? She knew the answer of course, her dad wasn’t going to back down no matter the situation, and it was better that Judith isn't on the firing line, despite what Negan said about not killing kids, he had shown the opposite on multiple occasions and-)

“I’m Negan! Please! I’m Negan! Don’t-”

“Damn fellas did you hear that!”

It was done. Negan had gotten what he wanted.

“Remember that Rick. You’re me. You’re mine! Everything you have, everything you are is mine.”

Rick just nodded in response.

“Let’s wrap it up boys! I want to make it home in time so we can have spaghetti for lunch!”

The Saviors started moving in motion, taking photos, packing up cars, as Negan led her towards his truck and she saw Dwight forcing Daryl into another car as she walked.

She didn’t look back.

She couldn’t.

#

#

#

After that, she went back with the rest of the Saviors to Sanctuary.

She could finally permanently take the binder off, and while she had been doing that while in Alexandria for hours at a time and when she was asleep, it was good to finally have it off her chest (she finally felt like she could breathe but at the same time she felt like she was drowning after everything that went down, after Sasha and Abraham and Eugene (none of who deserved the fate they got.))

And then she and the other Saviors went to Hilltop, going there to teach them some “manners.”

Negan had lined the Hilltoppers up, but ultimately despite all the lies Gregory had told he seemed to just dig himself further into a hole, which ended with her (yes her, since Negan had revealed to the crowd that she was the one to discover this dickhead’s deception) shooting the coward in the chest and the Saviors loading him onto the truck where he would be put on the fence.

Honestly, good riddance. She always hated the way the man looked at her (with a disturbing combination of disgust (for her eye socket and her scars) and hunger (not unlike that dickhead Steven.))

They left the Hilltop, simply telling them to have their tribute ready in a week- leaving them to deal with the shambles of their community now that their leader was permanently incapacitated.

After that little excursion, Charlie was left alone for most of the week, left to wander the compound as she does, get in some target practice with some walkers near the perimeter, and mostly just watch as Negan prepared for his visit to Alexandria and Dwight wandered around the building (likely torturing Daryl with that horrid song that Negan seemed to fucking love) and having that odd, contemplating look on his face at various moments that Charlie noticed but would never tell anyone about (because for everything bad she was, being a snitch when she didn’t have to be was not it.)

A few days later, less than the week that Negan had promised Rick but honestly more than Charlie expected (since Negan liked to keep everyone on their toes at all times,) they loaded up and headed back for Alexandria to collect “their stuff” as Negan so eloquently calls it.

It was awful.

Not the situation itself, no, but the glares, the death stares she got as she entered the community (stuff she would have ignored if it had been any other community.)

She saw Rick, Michonne, Hot Army Chick, Enid (and basically everyone else from the beating Negan had given- although Maggie and Glenn weren’t there, likely having gone to get help from wherever the needed to (although she didn’t think Hilltop was still an option for them after what happened to Gregory)) just looking at them (looking at her) with such hate that it almost made her glad they didn’t know who she was.

Because if they did-

If they did and they still hated her, she didn’t think she could take it.

But they (most of them) were safe, and Charlie just repeated that in her mind as Negan ordered people to raid houses, taking furniture and mattresses (as a power move more than anything because Sanctuary was chock-full of them as it was) before having Rick shepherd him around the community, leaving Charlie with Arat and some of the others to clear out the houses and inventory.

She steered clear of the Alexandrians for the most part, helping move supplies into vehicles that Dwight had ushered in, and when she was clearing the upstairs room of one of the houses alone, she got confronted.

“Was any of it true?”

Enid.

She didn’t want to look at the girl, not again, not after betraying her (Charlie knew this was going to happen and she promised she wasn’t going to get attached and-)

“Any of what?”

“‘Any of what?’ Everything Carl! I mean Charlie right? Because that’s who you are. You lied and lied and lied. And now Sasha and Eugene and Abraham are dead!”

“Enid-

“Maggie almost lost the baby-”

“You think I wanted this?!”

Because she didn’t, she hated what happened to Sasha and Eugene and Abraham, how she caused it. But if she hadn’t they would likely all be dead anyways (but maybe not, maybe she was wrong, maybe-)

“No, I think you just wanted to please your master. Like every other fucking Savior here. You’re a coward.”

She was wasn’t she?

“Is there a problem here ladies?”

Norman.

“Everything’s good here Norm, just wrapping up.”

“I was just leaving.” Enid said, before turning around and leaving the room with such rage (and holy shit the fact that she wasn’t scared made Charlie even more impressed.)

Charlie just packed up the rest of the room after Norm left to continue to another room, and she was packing up into the car when she heard about the guns.

Holy shit, how stupid were these people?

Did they want to get themselves killed?

Honestly, Charlie was pretty pissed because yeah, she could take the blame for Abraham and Sasha and Eugene but seriously? Pulling shit like this in a community full of kids, full of families? What kind of cowardly-

And then she remembered some of the rumors she had heard one night (because in such a small community, little stayed hidden for long) about a certain late leader’s dumbass son stealing and hoarding shit for himself.

And honestly, Charlie could say that she probably should have handled herself better then when she stormed into the man’s house (which was now practically void of much furniture except for some books and a couch) during Rick’s meeting at the church to talk to the Alexandrians (so even if she hadn't seen Spencer leave with a death-glaring Hot Army Chick she knew it was empty) because she swore to god if the guns were here- 

And they were.

That prick hadn’t even  _ tried  _ to hide them.

She stuffed the two guns into her pockets and walked out the door (leaving the house even messier than she had found it because screw it.)

The meeting had gotten out around that time as well, so the Alexandrains were flooding the streets in a sort of panic (who was on the line again? That one lady right? Olivia?) but she just kept on walking until she got near the gate where she saw the dickhead himself walking in.

And she decked him.

“What the fuck!” He yelled, holding his face in pain (pussy, she hadn’t even hit it that hard yet.)

“You know anything about two missing guns?” She asked, just to test him (and to determine how much he should suffer.)

“Wh- what? No! I-”

“Funny,” She said, pulling one of them out of her pocket while keeping her eye on the man the entire time (because she didn’t trust this bitch for shit,) “Because I could have sworn I found two in an air vent in your house.”

She was waving the gun near his face now, taunting him, because there were only two ways this was going to go down.

“It’s not mine! Don’t you have better stuff to do than accuse me of shit? Like being Negan’s bitch?”

And then she punched him full on the nose (albeit it was a bit difficult considering her height but she had done this many times in the past with even taller opponents) and the man just went down, hand going to his now somewhat crooked and bleeding nose and holy shit did she break it-

“What the everloving fuck is going on here?”

There we go.

Took Negan long enough, she thought, as she saw the man approach with Rick close on his heels, likely to investigate the noise and chaos near the gate that Charlie would gladly say she was the reason for.

“I found the guns in this dickhead’s house, hidden, and now he has the audacity to deny it.” Because she was fucking pissed now, this douche, this bitch, was actually about to unravel the work she had done to keep her family safe and she-

Negan just got a dark look in his face.

“You know- what’s his name?”

“Spencer.”

“Spencer, I’m not one for liars or pussies or hoarders. And  _ you  _ sir seem to be checking all those boxes if what Charlie over here is telling the truth.”

“I’m no-” The, now shaking, man tried to deny, but it was no use, no way Negan would listen to a Alexandrian (a cowardly one at that) over one of his top Saviors (his protege.)

“You wanna try that again?”

The man had to have known there was no way out of it, so he just dug his hole even more.

“No! I was just minding my business, I wasn’t even here I just got back, when your pet went rabid on me-”

Are-

Are you fucking kidding me?

Negan just looked at her and seemed quite pleased when she took out a gun (one of Spencer's stolen ones at that) and shot him in the knee.

The man screamed.

Honestly, Charlie was too hyped up to feel anything other than adrenaline and pleasure at that.

“Now! Now that isn’t going to fly! Do you have any balls at all man? Hell, that teenage girl who just shot you has bigger balls than you do!”

Spencer was still screaming, and there now seemed to be an audience gathering around, both Saviors and Alexandrians, who watched in glee and horror respectively, as Negan got closer to the man now bleeding on the ground.

“I can forgive this, you know? Just admit you stole it and I will lessen the punishment here.”

Spencer MonDouche looked up, staring at Negan as he nodded his head and just whimpered “I did, it was me- I’m sor-”

But he couldn’t finish because Negan had just put a bullet in his (annoying and fucking assholish) brain.

“I’m done listening to him talk, Jesus Christ Rick, are all the people here either creepy or annoying as all Hell?”

The rest of the Alexandrians watched as Rick stayed quiet and looked down at the man’s body, before looking up at Negan with a scary combination of hate and fear.

“Watch how you’re looking at me Rick.”

And the man, the broken, broken man that Charlie had helped destroy, just looked back down again. And Charlie wanted to cry for him.

“Well,” Negan said, clapping his hands, “I think this was a damn productive day! Everyone load up and I think we’ll get out of Rick’s curly hair!”

And, after a few minutes filled with even more taunts towards Rick (including (she thinks) something about a dick down someone’s throat- because that could also have been a proposition and Charlie would prefer for Negan to keep to slipping his dick down Simon’s throat to be honest, because her dad (no, no, not her dad) and Negan was something out of her worst nightmare,) they were off, leaving behind some very disturbed and scared Alexandrians and a corpse (with a broken nose.)

#

#

#

Things had started to at least sorta calm down again back in Sanctuary, Charlie had (thankfully) been reassigned to the Kingdom for the time being, not in anyway whatsoever wanting to hang around with her old-family-that-hated-her-guts, after talking to Negan for a bit (more like, listening to him rant about Rick (Rick, because she was still trying to detach herself from the idea that her father hated her and likely wanted her dead) for what seemed like hours until she asked (where by then the man had been too sexually frustrated (ewwww) to say no.) 

Honestly, she had only been to Kingdom (well, the outskirts of the Kingdom, since the King apparently kept the deal with the Saviors a secret- whatever greases your wheels oh Tiger King) and she could certainly say that it was quite a change from most of the other communities, because even though the Kingdomers at the drop-off knew about the Saviors and the havoc they brought, they still had a certain optimistic demeanor about them (except for that one dude- Richard (a pretentious name for the pretentious asshole but Charlie just started calling him Dick in her head for shits and giggles,) and followed basically all of what Gavin said to a T (which is probably why Gavin got assigned there because the man was no good at confrontation.)

Stick-Wielding Sensei man was there too, and honestly she couldn’t give a crap (unless it meant Kingdom was working with Alexandria (and that her family could be in danger because of Sensei Morgan.)

No good at confrontation also meant Gavin had some dicks (no, not Kingdom Dick, like asshole dicks) on his team because the man was unable to call them out on their assholery beyond some “disappointed dad looks” (which honestly had nothing on  _ her _ dad’s disappointed looks and nope, nope, not getting into that minefield, fuck off brain.)

One asshole of such being Fucking Jared (who likely couldn’t fucking read when he was 19.)

And Fucking Jared seemed to love picking fights (which, yeah Charlie got when she was like 12 but this dude was a grown ass adult), especially with Dick. And yeah, when it got to the point that guns were being pointed at each other when Fucking Jared decided to go around mocking a very unhappy Dick, she was a bit pissed.

And apparently Gavin is such a pussy that she ultimately ended up talking (more like telling because Negan didn’t give a shit about anyone that wasn’t one of his precious communities or part of the Boss Ass Saviors™ or directly interfered with his dictatorship) to Negan and she just kicked Fucking Jared, along with a few other dickish hotheads, off the team (because the last thing they needed was for some dick-headed Saviors to go around shooting up communities or random kids when they didn’t have to.)

And then, on top of her doing some serious damage control in Gavin’s group, she also had to deal with the fact that somehow Daryl got out of his cell.

Well, she didn’t  _ have _ to deal with it, that was Dwight’s job (she was just there to scare the hell out of people, kill some walkers, and occasionally offer her opinion to Negan.)

But, it did become her problem when she followed Dwight (who had been acting even more suspicious than usual) to a house, that she guessed to be his if the pictures on the wall of his ex (not by choice) wife Sherry and his unscarred face had anything to say about it.

Because Sherry had also been missing.

And Charlie, despite getting shot in the head, wasn’t stupid.

“She let him out, didn’t she?”

The man turned around quickly, hand grasping his gun as he turned to look at her standing in the doorway with a more bored look on her face than anything.

“What the hell are you doing here Charlotte?”

Damn, full name? She hasn’t heard that in a year-

“Thought I’d ask you, considering the fact that you apparently went to you and Sherry’s old house when you are most definitely supposed to be looking for a rogue boyband wannabe.”

“Stay out of this Charlie.” He whispered harshly, the man was terrified that much was obvious. Scared what she was going to do with this information.

“And what if I don’t?”

“Look, if you don’t Sherry dies. I die-”

“And?”

“You don’t want that on your conscience.”

“What makes you think I even have a conscience at this point? After everything I’ve done. Everything you’ve done. What makes you think that I care?” Because honestly, the idea that Charlotte “Charlie” Grimes could have a conscience at this point was laughable.

Dwight stared at her for a moment, contemplating, before saying-

“You would to protect your family.”

What. The. Fuck.

“H-how did you-”

“You mentioned a sister once, Judith, Negan came back from Alexandria a few days ago ranting about Rick and his little girl. A girl who happens to be about the age your sister would be now, that and I saw some old pictures Rick had in his house- damn you’ve changed a lot.”

And she had-

She fucking had- a while back. When she had caught Dwight after shit went down with Sherry and her sister and his face, and she had talked about her family. About Judith. Her sister who would have been almost three at the time. Because she never thought she would see them again. She was so fucking stup-

“I didn’t tell anyone.”

Wait.

What?

“You kept it a secret for a reason. To keep them safe, because you would hate to bring them into this world right? Because right now you’re on the up and up with Negan, but if you fuck up they’re going to be the ones getting the knife, not you. You’re too valuable for that.”

And he was fucking right.

“You won’t tell them? Will you?”

“You want to protect them right?”

That’s all she cared about, she was too far gone to care about anything else, he must have known that, it was the same reason he sold himself out into becoming one of Negan’s top men to save Sherry. The same reason Sherry became Negan’s “wife” (because what he had was in no way a normal or truly consenting relationship by any standards) to save Dwight.

“More than anything.”

“Then let’s take Negan down. Kill him. We saw what Rick- your dad right? Did to an outpost. Imagine what they could do with the information you and I have.”

“It wouldn’t work, they have nor reason to trust us. They have no guns. Ne-Negan will kill us. Or kill them, all of them if this fails.”

“You think your dad won’t listen to you.”

“A bit difficult when he doesn’t know you’re his kid.”

“Oh. Shit, I figured- he doesn’t know? How-”

“His daughter was a 14 year old pixie with a bob, not a 16 year old psychopath with a missing eye.” And she was a monster, someone with dozens of kills under her belt, someone who sold out her family or worked for an even more blood-thirsty monster.

“Still, shit-”

“It won’t wor-”

“I think you and I know the only way to keep our families safe. Keep Sherry safe. Keep your dad and your sister and whoever else safe, is to stop Negan.”

And he was right.

No matter what she did, if she left her family alone or if she was able to manipulate the situation, eventually something was going to give. Negan was too power-hungry and Rick was too stubborn for it not to, and when it did-

“We can’t just take out Negan, there’s Simon, and Regina, and a hell of a lot more Saviors that are more trigger happy and bloodlusty than him.”

“That’s where your dad comes in.”

Her and Dwight had planned out their treacherous plan in that cabin, putting the blame of Daryl’s escape on someone else (re: A certain creepy Doctor Carson who could easily be replaced with a less creepy Doctor Carson) which may have resulted in the firing (literally) of said doctor, before laying low to gather information (and guns) before going to Alexandria under the guise of a run (when they were certain Negan wouldn’t be there.)

So, for a week or so Charlie and Dwight had took turns taking guns and bullets (which had been pretty easy to alter some record books that Negan took pride in to make it seem like that some Saviors (that were now dead since they had been coincidentally ambushed by walkers that week) had taken them out) and hiding them in the Sherry and Dwight’s house (because nobody else knew of the location other than Sherry, and if she took the guns it would honestly be a source of relief for Dwight.)

Once that had been done, Dwight and Charlie “coincidentally” had runs to kill of some walkers or gather supplies that occurred at the same time, so they met up a bit further away from Sanctuary and drove their way to Alexandria, holding their breath the entire time because if they were wrong, if someone had found out or Alexandria turned on them, they were as good as dead (though, Charlie couldn’t say she cared an awful much, it was still a scary thought.)

But, they made it to the walled community in one piece, they were actually let in the gate pretty easily as well, considering the fact that the two had renowned Savior status (and despite what Charlotte may think of them, they weren’t stupid enough to publicly and verbally disobey two seemingly “puppets of Negan” that would report everything back to him.)

That was, until a certain very murderous Hot Army Chick saw them, and (seeing as this certainly wasn’t a business call) locked the two in a prison-like basement.

Where she came back with some very confused, and then angry, people (one of whom was a crossbow user who decked Dwight the second he saw him.)

And then, that same crossbow user may have held a knife to Dwight’s throat, with a small lesbian (was that likely the girlfriend, Tara, Denise had mentioned) telling him to just kill the man, and-

“We’re here to help!”

Everyone turned to her, as most had had their attention focused on a Dwight and Daryl until then, but the glares and hate and distrust was still there and-

“What?”

That was Rick.

Her dad.

Her dad who she had been trying to avoid looking at for too long because she hated seeing the angerhatredrage in his eyes (the same eyes she has- well had for one of them.)

“Negan. We want to stop him. We have-”

“Why?” Was the gruff response, because nobody in the group seemed even mildly convinced that this was the case. That two saviors (one of who killed their doctor (damn does Dwight have a thing against doctors? That’s the second one that man has killed in a year) and the other who lied and spied on them for weeks reporting everything she saw to her murderous boss.)

“Sherry. I’m doing it for Sherry she-”

“Ya think I care?” Was Daryl’s gruff response and damn, why can’t the man be quiet the one time she needs him to be?

“She helped you. Let you out. I was only there for her and she’s gone now!” 

Daryl seemed to pause for a moment, before slowly letting the man go (to which, Smol Lesbian responded with violent protest.)

“What about you?”

Michonne. Because in that room was Michonne and Daryl and Rick and Smol Lesbian and the Angry Hot Army Chick and-

This was it.

She- she couldn’t.

She had to.

But.

Stop being a pussy Charlotte.

But-

Goddamnit Charlotte!

What could she say though? She had thought this over a million times in the last week. Even more before then, but-

“You would make good pancakes.”

What. The. Fuck. Charlotte.

Please, just send her back in time so she could hit herself over the head with a baguette.

Rick seemed pretty fucking confused to, hell everyone did, because what the fuck did pancakes have to do with anythin-

“You would put smiley faces on them.” No better. “M-mom hated it. Her’s were all lumpy and you would make them sometimes before you went to the station and-”

She had to stop. She couldn’t. Couldn’t talk anymore. What difference did it make? He wouldn’t remember- or he would and know that his daughter was a- 

“Wh- what? Ch-Charlotte?” She heard her dad whisper, voice wavering.

She just nodded, still looking down at the floor, because she couldn’t look. Couldn’t see-

She was hugged.

Engulfed.

With arms and a smell she had tried so hard to remember but her brain seemed to have been forgetting. With memories of home and safety and that time she went into surgery for her appendicitis and that time she got shot in the stomach and after she saw Sophia die and her mom and-

He was hugging her.

Her dad was hugging her.

“H-how? What? How?” Was all he said while sobbing, repeating it over and over again while combing his hands through her hair.

“I made it out. After the prison, I-” But she just stopped, and Rick (her dad because holy shit he was hugging her) didn’t even seem to care.

She glanced up briefly (which was a bit difficult considering the fact that the hug had caused hair to go in front of her only eye) and saw Daryl and Michonne staring back at her in faces of disbelief.

They hugged for a few more seconds before she started to pull away (no, let her stay forever, don’t let me go) and she righted herself up to look at Dwight, who had a melancholy look on his face as he stared back at her.

“Here’s what we got.” She said, trying to get back into a sort of seriousness as Dwight and her told the others about the compounds, and the gun, and the workers, and the Boss Ass Saviors™ and in return the group told them about the agreement they had with the garbage people (which Charlie thought was just a bit sketchy and would definitely try to look into) and the guns they had gotten and Kingdom and Hilltop (which was now under the direction of a certain Maggie Rhee (with the help of Glenn Rhee) who had gone back there for the not creepy Doctor Carson to keep an eye on the baby (before the Saviors moved the man after Dwight and her sorta set fire to the other one.))

They were preparing to leave hours later that morning, having told them everything they could and giving them directions to Dwight's house for the guns because they could only be gone so long before-

“Charlotte.” Said a hesitant voice behind her, and she turned to see her dad, standing in the barely-breaking dawn as he looked at her.

“C-can we?”

She just turned to look at Dwight, who had been prepping the car and getting some supplies he had “gathered” for the ruse of a run and was now listening to the conversation.

“Go C, I got this.” And he just turned back to his work.

Char-(Charlie? Charlotte? Was she still the Savior Charlie? The broken fighter? Or was she Charlotte Grimes? A trigger happy girl with a loving and happy family, even in an apocalypse?)

followed her dad as he walked towards one of the houses (likely to avoid her being seen by any other Alexandrians as they slowly woke up) and walked towards kitchen, looking at her the entire time like he was afraid she was going to disappear or kill someone (god, she hoped it was the first one, because she couldn’t deal with her dad thinking (even though it would certainly be deserved) she was some violent creature.)

“Charlot- Charlie? Which do you-”

“Charlotte.” She whispered, because there was no way in hell she was going to hear that name spill from her dad’s lips now that he knew who she was (unless he hated her or was disappointed in her or-)

“What happened?”

Brief summary, Dad: “Prison fell and I ran, got with a group on their way to DC until one of the guys went insane and killed them, putting a bullet in my eye. I got picked up by the Saviors.”

“How long-”

“A year. Year on the run and year with the Saviors.”

“Shi- Char I’m- I’m so sorry.”

He was crying.

Her dad was crying.

What the actual hell?

“Dad, no. What? This isn’t your fault, I-”

“I should have looked harder, gone after you. Negan, did he-”

No. No, no, no, no. This wasn’t his fault. How could he even think that-

“He didn’t hurt me if that’s what you want to know, saved my life actually when I lost my eye. If anything I’m sorry.”

  
“Charlotte-”

“I shouldn’t have lied. Sold you out. I thought I had to. Keep you guys safe ya know? Because if not then Negan would have-”

“I know.” Was the heartbroken whisper she got back.

“What?”

“Char, after I realized- after you told me. You would never do anything bad to hurt me, hurt your sister. I can’t believe I thoug- Judith!”

What? Judith? Was she okay? Was she hurt? Did she-

“Did you want to see her?”

“Wh-what?”

Her sister. She could see her sister.

“Is that oka-”

“Upstairs, come with me.”

She followed her dad upstairs.

And in one of the rooms further down, sat her sister. Her very alive, very perfect, very amazing sister, who was staring right back up at her.

“Jude.”

Her dad lifted Judy out of her crib, holding her as he turned back around to face her.

“You want to hold her?”

What? No.

No. How could she? She’s killed people. Hurt people. And her dad wants her to use the same hands that did that to hold his perfect, innocent daughter-

“I can’t.” She whispered back, voice cracking on the second syllable.

“Charlotte,” Her dad sighed back, seeming sad for some reason (maybe because he just realized what a fuck up he had for a daughter) “Come here.”

She obeyed, moving slowly closer. And her dad put Judith in her arms slowly, and Charlotte just held her as if the girl was porcelain (which she very well may be.)

And it was right then, that Charlotte could finally see all she had been fighting for.

#

#

#

Dwight and her did need to get back, they couldn’t stay in Alexandria for too long or else their betrayal would be revealed and everyone would be completely screwed.

Still, it hurt so much to leave her family behind and go right back to being the “cold, heartless Charlie” and she never resented Negan more than she did then during the drive back to Sanctuary. Away from Alexandria and her family.

They passed Gregory’s turned walker form on the way there, and all it did was make Charlotte feel sick.

It was a few days before Negan called for another meeting with the Boss Ass Saviors™, and during the walk to the conference room, Charlotte was just a bundle of nerves because “did he find out?” “does he know?” “are we about to get the iron” “does he have her dad and Judith and Michonne and everyone in there so he could put a bullet in their heads in front of her?”

Turns out it was worse, much worse.

Apparently the garbage people (the weird assholes that Charlotte should have checked out far earlier) had been offered a deal with the Saviors (for fucking PEOPLE of all things. What the hell? Who the hell trades people?) and in exchange, the rotten garbage people showed just how rotten they were by rotting out the alliance they had with Alexandria (and the strike that Alexandria had planned against the Saviors.)

And.

Negan.

Was.

Pissed.

How could he not be? Negan already dealt with an attempt at an uprising once (with Hilltop employing Alexandria and we all know how that ended and in a way it was sorta her fault that it got found out) but for it to happen again? With the very people who had put bullets in the heads of everyone at Simon’s Outpost?

Well, Simon was even more pissed, wanting to walk right up to the community and destroy it with the RPGs they had taken from Alexandria itself. The mustache wearing asshole had always been a bit more of a “shoot first, ask questions later guy” and honestly Charlotte could see the logic there, what was to stop Alexandria from rebelling again if they didn’t act now? And honestly, this was what Charlotte was afraid of when she first found out about Alexandria’s deceit with Hilltop.

Dwight, although it was barely noticeable, was tense throughout the entire thing, and she was sure if he was looking he would say the same thing about her, because Negan and Simon were now planning to attack the community without any way for Dwight or her to warn them of what was coming.

Because Negan knew. 

He knew, not about her and Dwight, but about Alexandria.

The weapons they had.

The people they had.

And unless she or Dwight did something, everyone was going to die.

But still, could they really give up their position, the place they had to require knowledge and unravel Sanctuary from the inside out, in order to warn them?

Yes, yes they could.

That night, when Negan and the rest of the Saviors were preparing their convoy to take Alexandria, she left. Hopping on one of the motorcycles and speeding into the night, after leaving a message for Dwight, because she only had so much time.

So much time before the Saviors attacked and her world went to hell.

#

#

#

It honestly didn’t take too long, although it also seemed like forever, for her to get to Alexandria, taking a few more alternate routes so she wouldn’t accidentally run into any Saviors (because although Negan would realize what she had done soon enough, she wanted to give him less time to prepare.)

She finally made it a bit after the sun had begun to rise, and pulled up right to the gate, Creepy Priest Man having been on guard at the time and was now calling for her dad.

“Charlotte?”

“Hey, can I come in? We need to talk?”

“Now?” Of course, of course he didn’t want to see her or talk to her or be with her, not after everyth- “Won’t this blow your cover?”

“No. No, it doesn’t matter. Just open up.”

Her dad did, some of the Alexandrians that had been roaming around had gathered near the gate, and now looked at her with a combination of fear and hate.

She strolled in, looking at her dad for a moment before asking- 

“Where’s Jadis?”

And the man was confused, because how the hell had she known the garbage people’s leader’s name unless- and it took him all of three seconds to understand, a stormy look growing on his face, as he walked forward and she followed, with him whispering to a few other Alexandrians here or there.

“When are they coming?”

“Today. Probably right now.”

“Shit. Okay, okay.” The man mumbled, getting into his leader mindset (because there had always been a distinct difference between her dad and Rick the Leader) as he thought about the implications of that and how they could still come out on top.

“Dwight?” He asked.

“Still there, we needed someone to stay undercover inside.”

“And you’re sure he won’t oust us?”

“Would it even matter now? They know. Know your people and weapons and everything you were planning to do.”

“They don’t know about Hilltop or Kingdom, we might be able to rally some people there but they hadn’t been something we talked about with Jadis, we didn’t know for sure if they’d join up.”

“And you think they will now?” Because both Hilltop and Kingdom (except for a few occasions) had proven to be quite spineless, and to think that they would actually engage in a war against their oppressors seemed a bit… unlikely.

“They would if we told them what was going on. It’s worth a shot anyways. With the amount of people the Saviors have we need all the help we can get.”

Because of course. They didn’t have the numbers. It was unlikely even with the garbage people on their side when it was a surprise attack, but with a full legion of Saviors ready for the attack it was impossible (especially if the garbage people went beyond just selling them out and took up arms against the Alexandrians.)

He seemed to think for a moment, “I’ll radio Maggie and Glenn, I want you and Tobin to meet Hilltop halfway and see what I can get from Hilltop and Kingdom”

Wait what?

“You’re going to send me?”

Because there was no way in hell Hilltop would trust her, not after the last time they saw her she had put a bullet in their (dickish) leader’s head, not after she was the reason Maggie and Glenn’s friends were killed.

“They trust Tobin. And we can’t have you here if things go south, you have information that can help them. Help all of us,” Of course, of course he was thinking of it as a leader, because why would he care if she lived or- “and I need you safe.”

“Dad.” Her voice was cracking now, because she can’t remember the last time she truly felt loved or cared for but at the same time, she can’t leave him. Not here, not now.

“Look, Judith is at Hilltop, Michonne had brought her there a few days ago for safety. She’ll be fine. I need you to go-”

“I won’t leave you-”

“You need to.” He said sternly, turning to call a man (Tobin?) over and he quietly explained it to the man, whose face became more and more grave by the moment.

And then, within minutes her dad was ushering her and him into one of the cars, and she directed him quietly to which roads would be the least likely to be crowded by Saviors (because the last thing they needed right now was to get caught) and it was quiet other than the few questions the man asked her, mostly regarding if Rick was her dad and whatnot, to which he seemed very chill with (honestly, that was probably another reason why her dad chose this guy to go with her, he was much less likely to put a bullet in her brain than some of the others.) 

It seemed to take forever for them to arrive, with Charlotte vibrating out of her seat the entire time because what if they were late? What if they got back and everything was gone? What happened if Simon didn’t give Negan his time to talk and just used a damn bazooka on the place?

Within about 10 minutes of her and Tobin arriving in a clearing that her dad had told them all to go to, she saw Maggie and the rest of the Hilltoppers (and Enid?!) approaching, a stormy look on most of their faces as they got nearer.

“It true then?” She asked sternly, staring at her in a growing horror as she asked Tobin.

“It is. Yeah, they’re coming they-”

“Charlotte?” Was a whisper that came out, Maggie still staring at her face, glancing at her longer hair and single eye and the light scars she had on her face from the time someone pulled a knife on her and tried to attack her.

She just nodded and, “I’m sorry. F-for Sasha and-”

She just stared at her, before her face melted a bit and said “It wasn’t your fault. It’s Negan’s. And we are gonna make him pay.” 

“Where’s Glenn?”

“He was at Kingdom when we got the call, he’ll meet us at Alexandria.”

And that was all she said before she directed her people, most of whom were staring at Charlotte in apprehension, to Alexandria to fight what they hoped would be the final battle, and they began walking back to Alexandria.

Over the march, Enid (who must have stayed in Hilltop because of Maggie because she had always seen them to be pretty close) had come up to her side, although both continued to walk in silence.

“I am sorry you know? For everything.” She whispered.

“Why? Why’d you do it.” Enid responded.

So she explained, she explained in whispers, everything she could about Simon and Negan and the fear she had for her family for Judith and what could have happened.

“You didn’t have a choice.” Enid responded after a bit of silence, “That doesn’t make it right but I get it. I think I might have done the same for my parents. Hell, even for Maggie. Glenn. The baby.”

“I’m still sorry.” She responded with because yeah, Enid had told her back when she was “Carl” about her parents and everything she had gone through prior to Alexandria (stuff she likely never told anyone else and was certainly a big betrayal when she was revealed to be a Savior, even if she never breathed a word of what Enid said privately to anyone) and she had started to get close to Glenn and Maggie (both of whom had helped her find herself and become a part of the community, being there for her when she felt alone and after everything with Ron (who had basically claimed the lesbian as his girlfriend and became quite unhinged towards the end)) and now her family was in danger: hell, Maggie and Glenn almost died because of her.

“I know.” The girl responded.

“You really just going to forgive me for all of that?” Because for as little as she’d known Enid she knows that the fiery girl was certainly not want to let stuff like this go.

“No.”

Of course.

“But I understand it, and it wasn’t like you had a choice. Anyways, it’s not like everything you said as Carl was a lie.”

And wasn’t that the truth?

She had divulged into her pain and what happened with Adam and losing her eye and shooting her mom and losing her dad (albeit this was temporary but she didn’t think so at the time, having thought that there was no way she would ever be able to truly be a family again.)

“Thanks.” She responded, and Enid gave her a slight smile and nodded, before the two continued to walk with the rest of the group, into what would be a literal hellscape.

The Saviors had come.

There were bodies on the street now, both Alexandirans and Saviors, and the group just marched forwards, shooting any Savior they came across (which wasn’t many because they were all congregated in the center of the city for some reason.)

Oh-

That was the reason.

In the middle, stood Negan who now had Michonne, her dad, Hot Army Chick, Daryl, and Creepy Priest Man on their knees and had Lucille in hand, preparing to bash Michonne (Michonne, her old best friend and her dad’s girlfriend and maybe her future stepmother if she played her cards right) over the head.

So. She. Just. Shot. Him.

Everything stopped, and then violence erupted, with her dad throwing himself onto a Savior nearby to grab his gun, Michonne taking her katana which had been thrown on the ground and cutting up some assholes, Daryl grabbing a knife (where the hell had he gotten that from?) and just started attacking some Saviors, and everyone else just jumped into action.

Guns were going off all around her (and honestly the amount of movement and motion was enough to make Charlotte sick considering she was going at this was only one eye) but she just fired.

She fell moments later when a guy, not just any guy but Fucking Jared, tackled her, forcing her onto the ground.

“You little bitch.” He grunted. “You’re gonna pay for this shit.”

And.

Then.

He.

Started.

Touching.

Her.

(Okay, seriously? We are in the middle of a war zone asshole and your first thought is to moles-)

The asshole started to move lower down, putting his hand into her pants, and he was trying to touch her… there.

“Not so tough now are you?” He breathed, “Little bitch always think you were better than u-”

A gun went off and his brain (didn't know he had one of those) exploded.

She saw Glenn standing behind him, and the man helped her up.

“You okay?”

No.

“Y-yeah.”

Glenn just looked at her doubtfully, before lightly (lightly, lightly, not tightly, not forcefully) pulling her towards the direction of the action, because during her time with Asshole, the violence seemed to have been moved again.

“Charlotte are you sur-”

“Glenn, I’d love to chat but don’t we have some assholes to kill right now.”

The man just nodded, and they ran off into the direction of chaos, where a tiger (holy shit, she thought that was a rumor) and the Kingdomers and Alexandrians and Hilltoppers were all fighting the remaining Saviors, Dwight having joined the others and was now fighting Arat and Laura (and struggling so she shakily reached for her gun and shot (killed) Arat, giving Dwight room to kill Laura.)

But the main source of chaos was coming from Negan and Hot Army Chick (Hot Army Chick, who had lost her (ex?) boyfriend, and her friend, and Sasha (who was what? her ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend?), both of whom were shot (Hot Army Chick in the shoulder and Negan in the stomach where Charlotte got him (damn, she should have aimed for the head)) with Hot Army Chick trying to get to Lucille while wrestling Negan himself, only stopping when Negan started to dig his fingers into her gunshot wound.

But before Charlotte could aim and shoot him again, an arrow whizzed by and pierced itself through Negan’s throat, and the man started choking on his own blood before collapsing. And she turned to see Daryl standing behind her, crossbow now empty.

From then the fight was over.

It was done, the Saviors were basically gone now (expect for the remaining workers and the Saviors that had surrendered in battle.)

That’s not to say that the Survivors didn’t lose anything. Stick-Wielding Sensei Morgan was dead (having gotten attacked while trying to bring some of civilians to safety), Creepy Priest Man Gabriel (who ended up being pretty damn brave) was dead too, shot by some Saviors in the crossfire. 

Hot Army Chick was hospitalized for a week because of blood loss and the gunshot wound (which hurts like a bitch, just let Charlotte tell you.)

On the plus side, after a few months Dwight (who despite Daryl’s original promise to kill or banish him) found his wife and the two stayed in Alexandria, getting pregnant not too long after.

Even weeks after the fight was over, Charlotte (who had been running on adrenaline at the time with everything going on) was pretty shaken up over what Asshole had tried to do to her. What he  _ did _ to her. And she ended up talking to Glenn about it (who reminded her about what happened to Maggie with The-Governor’s-Bitch-Ass and how it wasn’t her fault and she wasn’t weak) and while she couldn’t say she was over it, she was starting to heal from it.

Not only that, but she was also starting to heal in a different way too, she was finally able to live with and talk to her dad and Michonne and Enid and see Judith and together, it felt like the broken pieces of her soul were finally getting picked up.

#

#

#

**Three months after the Saviors:**

“You really think Captain Marvel would win?” She snorted, slurping some the rest of her (now, sadly empty) Caprisun.

“What? Thor is basically just a lightning rod-” Was the defensive (and very wrong in Charlotte’s opinion) response she got from Enid.

“He’s a god!”

“The title is basically just a moniker!”

“No-”

“Yes!”

“He’s thousands of years old! How is that not godlike!?” She responded with, nudging Enid again while they sat on a log in the forest near Alexandria, because since the war, she had finally started to rebuild trust in everyone (including Enid) so now reading comics in the forest with Enid was basically her daily routine, just like it was when she was “Carl” and they would hang out in her house.

“People only like him because they think he’s hot!”

“Uh, I mean yes you’re not wrong about the hotness of the God of freaking Thunder, but don’t act like that's not the reason you’re into Captain Marvel!” And honestly, she would admit the Captain Marvel was pretty freaking hot, seriously what the hell was the blonde made of? She would let her top her any day. Point was, don’t be a fucking hypocrite Enid.

“Well-”

“Let’s just call them both hot and be done.”

“Thor is not-”

She just grabbed the comic and shoved it in Enid’s face.

“Even your lesbian ass has to admit he’s hot.”

“I don’t th-” And at that moment they noticed how close they both were. With Charlotte basically leaning into Enid to show her the comic.

And they kissed.

And honestly, Charlotte could tell you that Sanctuary had nothing on Alexandria.

#

#

#

A year after the war, no bridge would explode (the bridge having never been made due to there being no Saviors to build it like there was in another lifetime and no chaos that led walkers over there.)

Four years after the war, a crying Glenn and Rick would be at their kid’s (because Glenn and Maggie welcomed not just little Hershel Rhee into the family, but also adopted an Enid Rhee) wedding, the two girls finally building the future they desired.

Seven years after the war, Enid and Charlotte Grimes-Rhee would adopt a little baby boy whose parents had been killed after crossing some unknown “Whisperer” borders, but yet, the threat seemed to almost fade away as the communities kept to their side of the territory.

And honestly, all those years later Charlotte Grimes-Rhee would just look back and wonder how she was able to get all of this, live such an amazing, fulfilling life, with an amazing dad and sister and stepmom and brother and wife and son.

And honestly, she couldn’t tell you the answer.

Because as much as she wondered why she hadn’t gotten what she deserved, why she hadn’t been banished like some of the other Saviors, she would look down at her son Riley and know that it didn’t matter.

Because she was happy and finally free.

Free from running from death and walkers and Negan and herself.

She had finally stopped running.


End file.
